This is Hogwarts
by Sarah Elisabeth
Summary: The Marauders will be graduating soon. Obviously, they can’t leave Hogwarts without making their final mark on the school. Too bad any plan involving Peeves must fail.


Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just messing around with them.

Summary: The Marauders will be graduating soon. Obviously, they can't leave Hogwarts without making their final mark on the school. Too bad any plan involving Peeves must fail.

**This is Hogwarts**

_By Sarah Elisabeth_

---

Generally speaking, members of different houses did not speak.

They did not interact unless it was required to do so for a class. The classroom itself was neutral territory, and thus they would pretend to be on speaking terms. _Pretend_ obviously being the operative word. In class, they were under the watchful gaze of the Professors who would much rather issue a detention than suffer through an explanation of why the Slytherin wasn't wearing any pants or why the Gryffindor was found hanging by his feet above the Great Hall. Still, this did not mean that they were going to accept anything the Professors said. No, this was Hogwarts, and Slytherin and Gryffindor were at war.

It was a story as old as the school itself. Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor—once the greatest of friends—both wanted to take the school in a different direction. Never mind what Helga and Rowena wanted, this battle was between them. Godric wanted anyone brave enough to wish entry, regardless of parentage. Salazar only wanted those of pure blood. Why on earth would one make a school like this if they weren't going to teach the best of the best? They split the school into four houses and each would take in those they thought qualified. Their friendship dissolved and they each left to pursue their own interests elsewhere. Hogwarts would accept everyone with magical ability, but the House division remained.

No division was as strong as that between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and no students had ever taken the rivalry as serious as those in the graduating class of 1976. Gryffindor found James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew against Slytherin, which bolstered Severus Snape, Evan Rosier, Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange. It was war and both sides had known it from the moment they laid eyes on each other. There were just _some people_ who were not the type a self-respecting Wizard would associate with. These people needed to be taught a lesson. Or two or three or four. Granted, both sides thought the same thing about the other, but it did nothing more than strengthen their resolve to act. Results did not just come out of nowhere.

That said, Peter Pettigrew was not one to argue with results. If something worked, he went with it. It was simple and it was safe and it was just the way he liked it.

When he came to Hogwarts, Peter had been sure that he was going to have to fight tooth and nail to keep people from picking on him. Even his neighbor had told him so as he held him in a headlock when he was ten. He remembered that it hurt and that he didn't like having the other boy pick on him, and he decided that he _would_ fight. Instead, he found James, Sirius, and Remus. People liked them and they didn't yell at him when he decided to hang around. So long as he was with them, no one would bother him. Simple and safe. And no fighting!

But they liked trouble. Not only the type they could cause at Hogwarts, but the real kind. Sirius had family trouble, Remus was a werewolf (that had left him shocked for quite some time)—because of them Peter had even become an animagus! Things were different when he was with them. He enjoyed being a part of it. Whatever _it_ was, he found it completely interesting. And wonderful. Especially when they played tricks on Snape. Greasy Severus Snape was their favorite. Using his own spells against him, changing his hair color…the possibilities were endless. So long as he was with his friends, Peter knew he could never be hurt.

They were graduating in two weeks and Sirius wanted to go out with a bang. James was Head Boy and Remus a Prefect, so they did nothing to encourage him despite the more than obvious fact that they couldn't wait to be a part of whatever Sirius was planning. Peter would go along with it because it was expected of him. He liked being useful. Except, not so much now. Now Peter was feeling not so safe.

He sat slumped in one of the oversized chairs by the fire. He was tired and his ears were twitching. Twitching ears always meant trouble. It was fitting then, that at that moment Sirius stood up on one of the tables to address the Gryffindor common room.

"Brothers! Lovely lady Gryffindors!" he yelled, all at once gaining everyone's attention. "Today we plan revenge on the Slytherins!"

Whoops of joy and excitement filled the room. Peter could see Remus pretending to read a book, his lips twitching slightly upwards in an attempt to hold back a smile. James stood right in front of Sirius, obviously not caring too much about his Head Boy duties at the moment.

"Graduation is coming up, and before we go, we would like to leave a mark on the school. A very permanent one."

"What're ya gonna do?" a fourth year boy shouted up from the crowd.

Sirius grinned. "Peeves, my dear boy. Peeves." Excited whispers filled the room.

Everyone knew that Peeves was the Poltergeist locked up in one of the fourth floor towers. He was a part of the castle and was, unfortunately, impossible to get rid of. Somehow Peeves had been locked up in the tower years ago and no matter what he tried, he was unable to get out. No one at Hogwarts complained—rather they were very pleased to have him out of their way. He was the epitome of chaos and did all he could to cause trouble.

"What does Peeves have to do with anything, Sirius?" Remus had finally put his book down. Either he was excited or worried that the rules were being broken much further than he would like them to be.

"And that's the question!" Sirius shouted. "While all of you were slaving away for your NEWTS, I was working on breaking the spells trapping poor old Peevsey in his tower. My plan is this: free Peeves and have him destroy the Slytherin common room!"

Peter looked up at Sirius incredulously. "This is madness, Sirius!"

"Madness?" he looked around at the Gryffindors expectantly, nodding his head at them as though it were an invitation for them to agree with him. "This isn't madness, Peter. THIS IS HOGWARTS!" Cheers erupted in the common room.

"Actually, Sirius," Remus interrupted, "this plan really does have a very low chance of working. What makes you think Peeves will listen to any of us?"

"We're doing him a service!" James answered. "He'll be grateful!"

Remus didn't look like he believed it, but didn't complain. Sirius jumped off the table and gave him a pat on the back. "Good old Moony."

"Today we show the Slytherins what we we're made of!" James shouted.

Sirius let out a whoop of joy then grinned. "Marauders! Gather 'round and hear the plan!"

Knowing that arguing further would be pointless, Peter got off the chair and proceeded to be the good Marauder he was expected to be.

---

The plan was simple. Sirius would work with James and Remus on breaking the wards. Sirius had already figured out the spells and Remus had double-checked that they were right; however, the wards were strong and it would take all three of them to get through. Peter had the job of actually talking to Peeves. He didn't want to do it, but he was the only one who was qualified. There was an extremely small passage into the tower through the walls and in his animagus form, it would be very simple for him to get inside.

"You mission, dear Peter," Sirius began, "is to inform our friend Peeves that we are going to free him and that he is going to help us in return. If he doesn't want to cooperate, get out of there and let us know. That way we won't let him out."

The plan was simple enough, but he was sure he was going to find a way to mess it up.

Transformed into a rat, Peter scampered through the small passage. In actuality, it was barely big enough for him to fit through, but he slowly pushed himself onwards. He was always stuck with the dirty jobs.

Finally, he reached the tower, transformed, and took out his wand to look around. It was…quiet. Had he come out into the wrong room? He walked up to the door and tried it. Locked. He could hear the others speaking outside. They were working on the wards. Something inside, though, wasn't right.

He was just about to transform and leave the room when he felt his wand snatched out of his hand. He spun around and saw who he assumed was Peeves—a squat old man dressed in ridiculously colorful clothing.

"Give that back to me!"

"Naughty, blondie! Got your wand-y!" Peeves cackled and flew out of reach.

"Give it back to me! We're going to free you!" Peter yelled. He wanted his wand back.

"Free me, you say?"

"Yes!"

Peeves narrowed his eyes but the smirk remained on his face. "And what's in it for you, Gryffinbrat?"

Ignoring the name, Peter explained. "We free you on the condition that you destroy the Slytherin common room and follow the Slytherins around until graduation."

The smirk left the poltergeist's face. "Silly, silly. I don't do conditions." He twirled Peter's wand between his fingers.

Peter was stunned. He knew this would happen, but he had to get him to agree or else get his wand and warn the others. "But—but you have to!"

"No."

"But—!"

"Nonononono!"

"But we're going to free you!"

The door swung open. Sirius, James and Remus came in, grins on their faces. Peter went pale.

"It looks like I get free either way!" Peeves squealed with delight, threw Peter's wand onto the floor, and fled the room shouting, "STUDENTS IN THE TOWER! STUDENTS IN THE RESTRICTED OFF LIMITS TOWER!"

Mouths open, the three boys whirled on Peter. "_What did you do!_" Sirius shouted.

Peter froze. What did _he_ do? He didn't do anything! "My wand!" he started explaining, panicked. "He took my wand! I was going to tell you!"

Sirius was furious. James and Remus looked as though they were in pain. Not only had the plan failed, but if they were caught what would happen to them? Prefect and Head Boy breaking the rules in such a way?

"All you had to do was talk to him or warn us to stop! You had the easiest job and you ruined everything!"

Peter was angry now. "I told you the plan wouldn't work in the beginning! You can't blame me for this!"

"I can too, and I will!" Sirius said, advancing on Peter.

Peter started backing away from him. Sirius was going to kill him now. He was always mad at him and now he was finally going to kill him. He took a deep breath and tried to brace himself for imminent death, but then Remus yelled, "Quick! Someone's coming!"

Acting with the reflexes of a true Marauder, James threw the invisibility cloak over all four of them. Sirius, however, was still angry, and Peter felt himself being pushed from underneath. He fell ungracefully onto the floor and cursed.

"You got us into this mess, Peter, but you can get yourself out of it!" Sirius spat.

"Padfoot! Let him in!" Remus yelled. James remained silent.

"No!"

The footsteps could be heard clearly now. Despite being hurt and angry, Peter transformed into a rat and dashed into the passageway right before the door opened. He thought he heard Sirius mutter a quick "damn!" as he did so—no doubt in his anger he had forgotten that Peter was better able to escape this mess than all three of them. Even with James' stupid invisibility cloak. James who hadn't even stood up for him.

Moving as quickly as possible, Peter made his way through the passage and towards the Gryffindor tower. Transforming behind a curtain, he gave the portrait the password and went up to bed. Sirius and James would get what they deserved someday. He would wait for everyone to calm down and talk to them tomorrow.

There is only so much a rat can handle in one day, anyway.

---

Morning came, and with it the dread over the last nights failed prank. Peter woke to find the room empty. This did nothing to cheer him up—likely cause being that his friends only ever left without him when they were mad at him. Gathering his things, he took a quick shower, got dressed, and made his way down to the common room. What he saw was not what he had expected.

The room was packed. He had obviously slept through something big (which was not a surprise) as it appeared that every Gryffindor was in the room, crowding around something in the center. There were loud murmurs discussing something or another, but Peter couldn't hear any one conversation properly. He did note laughter, however, and carefully forced his way into the center. What he saw, he did not expect.

He couldn't help it—he burst out laughing.

Lying in the center of the room were Sirius, Remus and James—fast asleep with crude images drawn on their faces.

"Who did this?"

A first year next to him responded, "It was Peeves!"

"He told us not to wake them!" said another first year.

_And they listened?_ Peter wondered to himself. Deciding to forget about his anger, Peter spelled off the images from his friends' faces and bent down to wake them up. Not wanting to be seen staring, most of the Gryffindors went back up to bed or out to breakfast.

The three Marauders stirred and opened their eyes, confused at first, and then angry. Sirius was the first to react.

"That bloody poltergeist! I'm going to kill him!"

Remus shook his head in a manner that seemed to Peter that of a man completely beaten. "You can't kill a poltergeist, Sirius," he said. "Not that I would have stopped you were it possible." Peter stared at the three of them, but he said nothing.

James sighed, then looked at Peter. "Did you get into trouble, then?" he asked.

Peter shook his head. "Did you all? Aside from Peeves drawing penises on your faces and dropping you off here, that is?"

"WHAT?" All three of them bellowed at once. The remaining Gryffindors in the tower took that as their cue to leave and hurried out of the common room as quick as they could.

"I removed everything, don't worry."

Remus put his head in his hands, James threw himself back onto the floor, and Sirius just stood there, anger building. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill that mother f—"

"Sirius!" Remus interrupted.

"We got detention every day for the rest of the year because of him! He got us in trouble with Filch! Filch got us into trouble with McGonagall! And then! Then he couldn't leave well enough alone, he followed us from her office, attacked us, and did—did Merlin knows what to us!"

Peter decided to forgive his friends at that moment and forget about what they did to him the night before. Forgive them for the time being and forget about it until they did something else. Hopefully, he would never have cause to remember and retaliate, today, however, was not the time.

"Look on the bright side," Peter offered. "You'll only have a couple weeks of detention to deal with."

Sirius opened his mouth as though he wanted to yell at Peter, but then appeared to think better of it and grinned instead. "Yeah, yeah. Bugger off. That's the worst bright side ever, Pete."

"Well," Peter grinned, "if it makes you feel better, I'm sure Peeves will be drawing penises on the faces of Hogwarts students well into the future."

Remus groaned as James laughed. Sirius let out a whoop of excitement at the possibility of taking credit for all of Peeves' future mischief.

"As great as that may be, however, I cannot allow any of us to leave Hogwarts before we complete a proper prank," Sirius said contemplatively.

Peter grinned and decided that he didn't think he would want to have it any other way.

---

So, what did you think? Please review and let me know.


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